Big shout out of gratitude and appreciation to John Martin Sr. for spending his time and sharing his failures, challenges, successes and wisdom with these fourth and fifth grade boys during our RESPECT-ABLE session.
We started our session with some free play time, Kent Simmons led the boys through five minutes of mindfulness, John Martin Sr. spoke to the boys and our last 30 minutes were spent with mentors Kent, Norm, Jeff, Nick and myself taking the boys through a worksheet that challenges their emotional awareness, emotional management, gratitude and purpose.
Right before we started our session I heard the terrible news about William Holmes and Starts Right Here. Will and I were mentors with Zach Smith and ManUp Iowa. This is messed up; Will is doing what he is doing to make an impact so that type of stuff doesn't happen. Please send your positive prayers, thoughts and vibes their way.
Finally... I am convinced that they only way to stop those things from happening is for more men to be more involved in the mentoring, tutoring and support of boys and young men; the earlier the better. Boys and young men need trusting relationships with older men they can depend on. I don't know any other way to turn this massive societal ship in the right direction.
So, dudes... please get involved.